Newsletter

Slaton school bus crash injures three students; bus driver cited

3 students, 2 adults receive non-life-threatening injuries

An official looks at a damaged school bus after an accident involving the bus and a pickup truck on U.S. 84 near Posey Gin on Tuesday. Officials say there were no life threading injuries involved in this incident. (Stephen Spillman)

Emergency responders investigate an accident scene involving a school bus and pickup truck on U.S. Highway 84 near Posey Gin Tuesday afternoon. Officials say there were no life threading injuries involved in this incident. (Stephen Spillman)

Emergency responders investigate an accident scene involving a school bus and pickup truck on U.S. Highway 84 near Posey Gin Tuesday afternoon. Officials say there were no life threading injuries involved in this incident. (Stephen Spillman)

Emergency responders remove a school bus passenger from the accident scene on U.S. Highway 84 near Posey Gin Tuesday afternoon. Officials say there were no life threading injuries involved in this incident. (Stephen Spillman)

A Slaton ISD bus carrying 13 students from kindergarten through high school collided with a pickup truck about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday on U.S. 84 near the Posey gin.

Three children on the bus and two men in the pickup received non-life-threatening injuries after, investigators believe, the bus’s driver failed to yield the right-of-way to the oncoming truck, said Sgt. Bryan Witt with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Witt said the bus was eastbound on County Road 3100 and attempting to turn to the northwest on U.S. 84 when it collided with the side of the eastbound blue Ford pickup, sending the pickup into the median.

The bus’s driver, 48-year-old David Cruz of Slaton, told investigators he did not see the pickup.

The DPS cited him a misdemeanor charge of failure to yield right of way.

Superintendent Julee Becker said school administrators were at the scene within about five minutes.

“We have our emergency phone lists that we take with us if there’s ever a crisis,” she said. “My administrators all went to the scene to contact parents from the scene.”

Three students on the bus and the two men in the truck were transported by ambulance to a Lubbock hospital, Witt said. The injured students were: 6-year-old Jazelle Flores, 8-year-old Tyler Harry and 14-year-old Brittany Silvers.

The pickup’s occupants were 45-year-old Steven Martin, the driver from Slaton, and 30-year-old Daniel Butler of Slaton.

The students received minor injuries and were hospitalized as a precaution, Becker said.

Becker, who was in Austin at an education conference, kept informed by cell phone. She estimated it took about 20 minutes for all the parents to be contacted.